His Last Vow
by Ashe Dupre
Summary: When Arthur picked up the phone, he expected another cheerful, airheaded message from a cheerful, airheaded person. What he got was almost as far from that as possible. Warnings inside. 1 of 3


**A/N: Please, don't ask me why I decided to write this. Trigger warning! This contains some potentially triggering material, pertaining to suicide. Warning! Character Death. You have been warned. Also, this is not Sherlock related, I'm sorry if you clicked on this expecting Sherlock. This is Hetalia. You are in the wrong fandom. You can still read though.**

Arthur walked in the door to his house, taking off his shoes. He tossed his keys on the table by the door.

"Mum? Dad? I'm home." There was no answer, there almost never was. The Kirklands were almost always out doing those humanitarian trips to impoverished nations and such. And when they were home, they were generally preoccupied with one of his brothers.

Arthur felt his phone buzz in his pocket. He looked down at it and sighed, rolling his eyes. It was Alfred. Why he was calling was beyond Arthur.

The two boys had been best friends, nearly inseparable since Arthur and his family had moved from England in the fourth grade. Until ninth grade. Arthur had started drifting away, with schoolwork and extracurriculars. That and Alfred was annoying. He was just so loud, and obnoxious, and...ugh. Then they had their fight. Alfred had confronted Arthur about his distance, and Arthur had flat out told him that they were done- he didn't want to be friends anymore. Alfred had seemed to take it fairly well, considering. He still tried to be nice to the Brit too, waving in the hall, saying hi. Arthur wished he would just leave him alone. It had been two years already, seriously.

After some thought, and against his better judgement, he answered the phone.

"Yes, what is it? I don't particularly want to talk to you right now." He heard a small intake of breath from the other end, as if Alfred hadn't expected him to answer.

"Oh, hey Artie- sorry. Arthur. Um, this is awkward, I didn't think you'd pick up."

Arthur rolled his eyes exasperatedly. "Look Alfred, I'm busy, just...leave me alone." _Forever_, he thought, frustrated. He didn't realize that he had said that out loud until Alfred made a small noise.

"Yeah, that's fine Art-Arthur. I... I just had something I wanted to say." There was something in his voice that seemed off, but Arthur brushed it off. Alfred always sounded odd. He was probably eating.

"Well, what is it? Actually, I don't have time for this. Goodbye." He went to end the call, but Alfred said one last thing.

"That's fine. Just...just don't pick up next time, okay?" Arthur ended the call. A few seconds later, Alfred called again. Arthur groaned, and just let it go to voicemail. He went upstairs and changed into some thing more comfortable, then went back down for a snack.

_Maybe I should check to see what the idiot had to say, _Arthur thought. _Probably just some party or something._ Nevertheless, Arthur dialed voicemail, putting the phone on speaker.

_You have one unheard message. First unheard message. _

_"Hey Arthur. So, this is a little weirder, since you answered before, but I'm still going to say what I need to. Before you just delete this, let me just get the important parts out. Thank you, and goodbye. Okay, so, I guess you can hang up now, but it would mean a lot if you kept listening._

_I get that you're done with me. I guess it was only a matter of time. I mean, look at me. Well, you can't, but you know what I mean. I know what people say. Loud, obnoxious, annoying, rude, a-hole, weird, freak, fatty, all that stuff. Mostly loud. Heh. And...it's so hard. Pretending that you don't care anymore, that it doesn't bug you. Do you know how hard it is Artie? It's really hard. And, I mean, it's not like I'm doing anything worthwhile anyways. And...and that's why I think it's better for everyone if I just went away._

_Mattie'll be okay. He's making new friends, branching out. Kiku got too fed up with me too, I knew it was coming. He has Ludwig and Feliciano now. So that's all good. And you...well, you left. The first. You saw it first. That I'm just not worth anyone's time. But you were also my best friend. So I guess that's why I'm calling you, and not anyone else. _

_I missed you so much you know. I still do. I miss you. You were like my brother. I loved you. I love you. Hell, I might have been in love with you at one point. But through it all, you were always my big brother. And when you left...it tore me apart a little. I sound like such a sissie right now, but oh well. _

_I guess I have to hurry up, my phone is starting to beep at me. _

_So, what I'm trying to say here is that you were my anchor. My one thing that kept me here when things were hard. I never told you- I thought that it would be way too much pressure on you. And without you...things have been hard. _

_And now, without you here...well, I guess I've realized that I'm not really needed here anymore. Everyone would be fine if I was gone. No one needs me anymore. So, this is it. I'm done. _

_Done having to pretend I don't care about the insults. That I don't care that all of my friends would be fine without me. That I don't care that everything is falling apart, and I can't do anything about it. By the time you're done listening, I'll probably be gone already. So, this is it. My note. That's what people usually do, leave a note? See, I can quote that show you like. _

_But before goodbye, I wanted to say thank you._

_Thank you for all the good times. For sticking with me for so long. For being my bro, even though you didn't think the same way. And just for being there. _

_Remember that song you liked? About the stars and the sky, and then the boats? You always said that I would be the star, shooting off to new adventures. Well, you were always my star. My boat. And I want to say thanks for leaving your stardust behind for me. It meant the world._

_And I guess I am going off on a new adventure. I always said that I'd check things out before you did them, just in case. Well, I'll check this one out for you buddy. Wait awhile before you catch up though. Don't you dare come early, okay? I'll be watching. _

_Good luck. I love you bro." _

_End of message. If you would like to delete this message, press-_

Arthur dropped the phone, hyperventilating. He sank to his knees, snack completely forgotten. _He- Alfred had-_ Arthur couldn't even put a sentence together. He had no idea about any of this. He quickly hit 9 to save the message, then dialed the police.

The next day, the news showed a very somber story.

_The body of Alfred F. Jones was found last night, after the 17 year old committed suicide in his room by overdosing on sleeping pills. Police were alerted by an anonymous tip, who had received a voicemail message from the deceased moments before, that had apparently functioned as the teen's suicide note. The tipper said only that he was an old friend, that should have been there, explained the situation, and gave the address before hanging up. Unfortunately, it was too late to save young Mr. Jones by the time forces got there. We all mourn for this tragic loss._

**A/N: You were warned. The song referenced is Boats and Birds, by Gregory and the Hawk. The show referenced is Sherlock, from BBC. All rights go to whomever owns Sherlock, the song and Hetalia: Axis Powers.**

**Edit 9/13: The next two stories are up, Our Solemn Hour and Letting Go.**


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